Cambodia’s elections did not produce a clear winner – this alone is notable news for a country that has been governed by the same person, Hun Sen, for almost 29 years. On August 12, the National Election Committee preliminarily confirmed the governing Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) as the recent winner of the election with 3.2 million votes and 68 of 123 seats in the parliament – ahead of the opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, who won 2.9 million votes and the remaining 55 seats. These results, however, are not recognized by the opposition, who in turn claims to have won an absolute majority with 63 of the 123 parliamentary seats. In addition, there is ample evidence of massive electoral fraud committed in favor of the governing party, which makes the electoral results generally appear unreliable and clearly inadequate as legitimate grounds for another Hun Sen government. Due to the opposition’s surprisingly good performance overall, it is certain that the CNRP would have undoubtedly won an easy victory if the elections had been free and fair. Germany’s development cooperation with Cambodia stands before the inevitable task of being redrawn, not just due to the uncertain political situation, but also because of the limited success it has had in certain areas.

Read the full article (a translation of an original German text) online in a dossier about Cambodia’s parliamentary election 2013 realized by Heinrich Böll Stiftung.